Programme presented by Tony Francis. In the first of a new regular series of features in which MPs report on topics of their choice the Labour MP Tony Benn reports from his constituency in Chesterfield where he gives a voice to some of the local people. Tony Benn reports to camera and we see shoppers in the market. Benn talks to a pensioner, anti nuclear protestor, hospital patient (outside the Ashgate Rehabilitation Centre), an unemployed man and the wife of a miner collecting food for those men on strike. Benn also talks to pickets at Arkwright Colliery about problems with the police and the media coverage of the strike.
In the next film item Sally Jones reports about the low educational standard of school leavers. Many employers are critical of school leavers and Jones visits a training centre at West Bromwich that aims to boost employability skills of young people. We see students in class at West Bromwich and she talks to youth training manager Ted Ratnaraja and students Karen Hadden and Vanessa Mallard. We then hear from Roger Downing of Lloyds Bank who shows examples of poorly written application letters and Barry Shuttleworth, the former chairman of MSC (Midlands) who discusses standards. We then see the exterior the Jaguar factory in Coventy and production lines (making XJS cars). Jaguar has set up links with local schools to improve standards. Sally Jones next visits IMI at Witton in Birmingham where the training manager has complained about standards. However Jones’s interview is cancelled and she reports to camera instead and we also see establishing shots of the factory. Next she talks to David Griffiths, head teacher at Wheelers Lane School in Birmingham who defends teaching and we see establishing shots and pupils in class as well as students at a Coventry craft training centre where she talks to training manager Roger Gilbert.
Back in the studio Tony Francis discusses the issues presented in the film with Roger King MP (Conservative, Birmingham Northfield) and Mark Fisher MP (Labour, Stoke Central).
Political Editor: Reg Harcourt
Production Editor: Bruce Grocott
Film Editor: David Furmage
Graphics: Jim Chalmers; Hazel Alemany
Production Team: Rob Whitehouse; Sally Jones; Mark Astaire; Chris Fewlass
Directors: John Pullen; David Berman
Editor: Mike Warman
Production number 5190/84.